Financial literacy of citizens – financial education of citizens through workshops and a specialised website

The project won the prestigious international EIFL Public Library Innovation Award as one of the best library projects contributing to society’s economic empowerment.

The project was implemented in cooperation with BCL and USAID. It was aimed at improving the financial literacy of Serbian citizens. It consisted of two units:

• training of librarians to conduct workshops on the basics of financial literacy and
• creation of a special website intended for the financial education of citizens

Fifteen librarians received professional training in financial literacy and the methodology of working with young people. These librarians then held over 50 workshops for Belgrade high school students, students, people with disabilities and other citizens.

As part of the project, the website www.novcici.rs was created and launched.

The website’s goal is to explain in a simple way the basic principles of managing personal and family finances and provide necessary information about how certain financial products work and how to use them effectively.

By introducing the financial literacy service, BCL became the first library in the country and one of the few in Europe to raise the educational level of its local community in the field of finance.

This project certainly changed the awareness of a good part of the local (library) public about the role and function of the public library in the modern age.

Project value: 2,000,000.00 dinars
Realization period: 2009-2010
Donor: USAID